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Ducks fall to Sharks in OT after goalie Jonathan Bernier leaves with injury

Ducks fall to Sharks in OT after goalie Jonathan Bernier leaves with injury

Ducks goalie Jonathan Bernier, right, stops a shot as the Sharks' Joonas Donskoi approaches for a possible rebound during the first period of Tuesday night's game in San Jose. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

SAN JOSE – Is there any victory in a loss? If you’re the Ducks, you might feel that way in October after paying a hefty price for escaping San Jose with one point in their back pocket.

The chance to steal another went away when Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored on a breakaway in overtime for a 2-1 win Tuesday night at SAP Center. But the Ducks suffered their biggest loss off the ice.

Losing the services of goaltender Jonathan Bernier after the first period and leader Ryan Getzlaf following the second, the Ducks (2-3-2) somehow got it to overtime after being outplayed much of the night.

It suddenly was about survival and Chris Wagner’s second-period goal along with John Gibson’s strong goaltending in relief gave them a hard-earned point.

“When you take the big picture, it’s a point on the road,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “And we didn’t play anywhere near what we’re capable of. We lost two players through the process.

“Our goaltender and penalty killing won us the point. Now you got to turn the page on this one and we got a big one tomorrow night against Nashville at home.”

It was costly. Getzlaf didn’t come out for the start of the third period. Television replays showed the Ducks captain hit on his left forearm by a shot in the second and Getzlaf missed a couple shifts before returning.

Meanwhile, Bernier left with an upper-body injury suffered sometime in the first period. Carlyle said both players would be reassessed Wednesday morning and it was too early to say if either could be available to face Nashville or would be ruled out.

Bernier’s potential absence might require a call up of Dustin Tokarski from the Ducks’ AHL affiliate in San Diego. Gibson said he would be ready to go if called upon to start. He’ll need to bounce back quickly.

The Sharks made him work throughout the second but the Ducks’ No. 1 was up to the task. All 15 shots in the period were turned aside, including sprawling stops on Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture. Gibson said he was able to use the 15-minute first intermission to stretch and get warmed up.

“I don’t know what it’s like to come in cold like that and see a few slot chances but I’m sure it’s pretty difficult mentally,” Wagner said. “He stood up to the challenge. I think that gave us a lot of momentum too. Some of those big save so we could build on that as well.”

The sharp netminding let the Ducks hang around until they finally broke through at the 17:49 mark. Wagner got down in front to put a tip on Clayton Stoner’s point shot and the forward jumped on the rebound to shove it between Jones’ pads for a 1-1 tie.

But the persistent Sharks had more left in the tank that the tired Ducks. Vlasic got a pass from San Jose captain Joe Pavelski and was able to out-race Corey Perry to the net before beating Gibson stick side. And Gibson was going to see the overtime loss as a small victory.

“If you’re going to be satisfied like that, you’re not going to get very far,” Gibson said. “It’s a division game. It’s a big game. We had a chance to take two and we didn’t do it.”

San Jose jumped out first on Pavelski’s power-play score. Pinpoint passing led to Bernier having to turn away a scoring chance but Pavelski was able to jump on the loose puck and bat it toward the net, with the puck crossing before the goal came off its moorings.

The Ducks got their first opportunity to tie it when Hertl was whistled for a faceoff violation as Michael Haley was already serving time for instigating a fight with Stoner. But Jones made a stop on Sami Vatanen and the Sharks killed off both penalties.

Before he exited, Bernier made sure the deficit didn’t grow. Chris Tierney was left wide open to his left and quickly took a sweeping shot but Bernier pushed over to get enough of it and sent the puck flying harmlessly away.

It would be the defining moment of his second start with the Ducks – and the last one for his night.

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